The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s former owners hit a dead end and must pay back millions to journalists. We won at the Supreme Court.
Our union hasn’t been able to say those words very much over our 93-year history.
But we’re saying them this week after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up management’s appeal of our victory at the appellate court.
This whole saga has been going on for years, and so I wrote up a “mini” timeline:
• Pre-2020: Post-Gazette management bargains in bad faith, refusing to move off of their initial positions
• July 2020: Unfair Labor Practice charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board
• October 2022: Workers in five bargaining units go on strike
• January 2023: Administrative law judge rules in our favor
• September 2024: National Labor Relations Board rules for strikers
• March 2025: 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals issues a never-before-won 10(e) injunction against management
• November 2025: 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals rules for us; remaining Guild strikers vote to end their strike and return to work
• January 2026: Supreme Court refuses to stay the injunction issued by the appellate court, millionaire owners decide to shut down paper
• April 2026: Baltimore Banner’s parent nonprofit buys the Post-Gazette, drastically cuts staff
• July 2026: Several former strikers launch the Pittsburgh Progress, a worker-owned cooperative news site
• October 2026: Supreme Court refuses to hear management’s appeal, ending the legal saga
I spoke to Andrew Goldstein, the outgoing local president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, shortly after the news came down.
Goldie was elated and also honest about how long and difficult the last few years have been.
“I have come to fully understand the expression ‘justice delayed is justice denied,’” he told Executive Vice President Marian Needham and me. “It shouldn’t have taken this long.”
He’s right. Our members struck for three long, brutal years and sacrificed more than most people know to see this through. They were heckled by scabs, went without a paycheck and pushed around by cops in below-freezing temperatures.
I can remember the day in October 2022 when I committed to our members through tears that the Guild and CWA would stand with them. I wasn’t sure what was going to come next, but I was damn certain we’d throw everything we could at the situation, even our hands were tied behind our backs.
You could argue that the Guild didn’t win because the owners got mad, sold the paper and laid off dozens of workers. That they’re still mad, because they’re saying they’ll shut down the Toledo Blade.
But the Block family doesn’t deserve to own any newsroom. This dispute started small. It started over a few thousand dollars difference in health insurance costs. It started when the boss disrespected journalists.
If you want to own a newsroom in North America you need to show up with integrity. And if you break the law, The NewsGuild-CWA will hold you to account all the way to the top court in the land.
Ok! The sun hasn’t come up and I’ve already had my cry for the day. There’s a lot of other news you should hear about in our amazing, unstoppable union.
Seattle Times workers held an informational picket to demand AI protections and wage increases in their new contract. Last Wednesday’s action came after months of community engagement. “Readers have spoken and the public is behind us,” said Chris Cole, a sports multiplatform editor.
At a recent bargaining session, members brought up a column from the paper’s executive editor in which he wrote “journalism is a craft that requires human relationships, as messy as they are, between reporters and their sources, photographers and their subjects, writers and their editors.” Yet, management refuses to guarantee that journalists won’t be replaced by AI. “Our compact with the readership is not the same as our compact with the employees,” said the head of HR.
Support our family in Seattle by signing their petition.
McClatchy workers need your help in asking the company what their priorities are. You might remember that McClatchy laid off more than 90 journalists and media workers across 13 publications last month. Now, workers are requesting that supporters flood the company executives’ inboxes by asking them to commit to quality local news and reverse the layoffs.
“We sit here today questioning what this company’s priorities are. We can tell you ours. We’re all in on original, local reporting that readers can’t get elsewhere. We’re all in on holding power to account. We’re all in that humans write better stories than AI. We’re all in on telling stories that make a difference in our communities. We’re all in that high-impact newsrooms need more journalists, not fewer. Is McClatchy?”
A new law supporting journalism jobs in California will provide local news organizations with tax credits for each journalist they employ. This is fantastic news! The U.S. has lost 80% of its local journalists since 2002. I am hopeful this new piece of legislation, which local Guild leaders advocated for, will help improve coverage for communities across the state. California is now the fourth state to enact these tax credits. We’re pushing other states to do the same. (Correction: an earlier version of the newsletter incorrectly stated California was the third state to implement a journalism tax credit. It is the fourth state after New York, Illinois and New Mexico.)
“By providing a financial incentive to not only maintain but also grow newsroom staffing, the bill will help ensure that our dedicated journalists are providing Californians the in-depth coverage they deserve,” said Sean Emery, the president of the Media Guild of the West.
Workers at the Daily Herald unanimously won their election, after layoffs and salary reductions. Alden Global Capital acquired the suburban Chicago newspaper back in June. In case you’re wondering, yes, that’s the same vulture fund that laid off nearly 30% of unionized journalists at the New York Daily News.
Over at the Daily Herald, employees experienced eight rounds of buyouts and layoffs and saw their wages reduced by at least 15% over the past ten years.
“For too long crucial decisions have been made with no input from us, the editorial staff responsible for producing an award-winning newspaper,” said Kevin Schmit, an associate sports editor when the workers announced their intent to unionize in August.
Workers at the National Low Income Housing Coalition have unionized with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. Management of the non-profit voluntarily recognized the union.
Workers are organizing to advance transparency, staff development and support and collaboration at the organization. “I want a union so that my colleagues can be protected against unfair labor practices,” said Sidney Betancourt. “As an organization rooted in equity and choice, it is only responsible for its workers to have access to the same promise,” said Carlton Taylor, Jr.
Journalists and media workers at the Mirror Indy, FPI News and Free Press Indiana also formed a union last week. “As our organization grows, we are coming together to ensure we have a seat at the table and our audiences continue to have the news they need to thrive,” said Ibby Ahmed, a senior social media strategist.
Workers said they’re unionizing to keep their existing benefits and to ensure workloads and policies are enforced equitably.
Journalists at Current Affairs just got a first contract. Workers at the nonprofit magazine secured some of the best AI guardrails I’ve seen in our industry. Their new contract prohibits the use of generative AI to write articles or create art for the magazine and ensures that no worker will be replaced by artificial intelligence.
“In an industry where journalists and writers are often expected to accept precarious employment, stagnant wages, and increasingly invasive uses of technology as inevitable, we think it’s worth insisting that things can and should be different,” workers wrote.
Journalists at investigative outlet The Lever also won a new contract. They bargained, among other wins, a ratification bonus, eight weeks of severance, better healthcare coverage and a much shorter probationary period. This was the first contract with the Guild for The Lever Union, which was previously an independent union. “This deal is a testament to the hard work of our members, and we’re thrilled to have reached a deal for an even stronger contract with The Lever’s management,” said Natalie Bettendorf, the outlet’s podcast producer.
Nominations for our top officers will be on January 7. Our union is extremely democratic. All members in good standing get to vote for candidates nominated at the virtual conference next year. The positions include the sector chairperson, president, executive vice president and six regional vice presidents. Read all about it here as locals begin the process to elect delegates for the January conference.
More than two dozen leaders got together this past weekend for the comeback of our New Local Officers Seminar. We haven’t had a large in-person leadership training since before the COVID-19 pandemic. It was awesome to bring together members from Kenosha, Erie, Seattle, New York, Missouri and more to learn the fundamentals of leadership, organizing, bargaining, representation and communications.
We have some virtual trainings coming up this month you can join. We’re doing a skills training on effective meeting facilitation at 5:30 p.m. ET on October 13, action planning will be at the same time the following day and at our steward training continues with communicator and educator at 7:30 p.m. ET on October 22.
There’s your news! Have a great day and keep building our union!
In solidarity,
Jon Schleuss
President
The NewsGuild-CWA